Syria - Apr 10, 2012 - 09:41

The deadline for a UN-backed peace plan for Syria has passed, and there have been new reports of violence.

Syrian government forces shelled a village in northern Aleppo province on Tuesday, the day a UN peace plan aimed at ending 13 months of violence was due to start taking effect, a monitoring group said.

The forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, which had taken up positions around the village of Marea, shelled the area on Tuesday, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Syrian forces are said to also be shelling the city of Hama, including parts of Homs, and tanks are still patrolling the streets of Douma.

Under the first phase of the peace plan agreed with UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan, the Syrian government was supposed to withdraw its heavy weapons from population centres by Tuesday morning, followed by a full ceasefire 48 hours later.

But the peace accord is hanging by a thread.

Syria's Foreign Minister Walid Muallem is in Moscow for talks with the Russian government, one of its long-time supporters.

(Photo below of a man, who was wounded during Monday's clashes on the Syrian side of the border, lies on a stretcher upon his arrival at a hospital in the border city of Kilis, southern Turkey - Reuters)